Golf ball tee



Aug. 4, 1959 c. B. OVERBAUGH GOLF BALL TEE Filed March 15, 1956 H S G a & m m 0 N W ERG. A O NEV Iva 0 ww m H .C

United States Patent GOLF BALL TEE Charles B. Overbaugh, Denver, Colo. Application March 15, 1956, Serial No. 571,853

2 Claims. (Cl. 273-210) This invention relates to supports for holding spherical objects, and more particularly to a support for golf balls, and will hereinafter be referred to as a tee. Reference is made to the application, Serial Number 350,35 8, filed April 22, 1953, abandoned December 16, 1955, and reference is also made to the co-pending application filed October 23, 1953 for Double Position Golf Ball Tee, Serial Number 387,885, which issued as Patent Number 2,809,839 on October 15, 1957.

Objects of the invention are; (a) to provide a blank formed by a single stamping from a flat sheet of cardboard or like cheap material adapted to be easily manually bent to form a tee for a golf ball; (b) to provide such a tee which is adapted to stand in various positions and support a golf ball in each of such positions; (c) to provide such a tee which, when used in one of such positions, will surround the supported ball and which is adapted to be colored in contrast with the coloring of the ball and thus aid the user in more clearly distinguishing the ball and gauging its position; (d) to provide such a tee adapted to support the ball in desired position without insertion of any portion of the tee in the ground; (e) to provide such a tee having space thereon for advertising and which is so cheap and compact that it may be provided in book form, similar to match books, and furnished free to golfers and discarded after a use or two.

With the foregoing and other objects in view, all of which more fully hereinafter appear, my invention comprises certain novel constructions, combinations and arrangements of parts and elements as hereinafter described and as defined in the appended claims, and illustrated in preferred embodiment, in the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 shows in plan, a blank of sheet material cut and ready to be manually bent to form my improved tee.

Figure 2 illustrates the blank of Fig. 1 manually folded into a tee and seated upon the ground with a golf ball carried thereon above the top of the tee.

Figure 3 illustrates the blank of Fig. l, with a segment removed and the blank folded to stand upright with a golf ball carried therein and surrounded thereby.

Referring to the drawing, my improved tee is formed as a rectangular blank of cardboard or similar sheet material preferably having serrated end edges 11, smooth side edges 12, an orifice 13 and fold lines, cuts and tear lines in or on the surface of the blank as hereinafter described, all of which may be formed by a single conventional stamping operation.

The width of this blank is sufficient to permit an orifice 13, or golf ball diameter, to be cut therein at the center of the blank with suflicient area of the blank on all sides of the orifice to provide structural rigidity of the blank and prevent unintentional buckling or tearing of the blank. The length of the blank is approximately twice the width thereof so as to provide opposing similar areas 14 and 15 at each side of the orifice 13, longitudinally of the blank.

The areas :14 and 15 are divided by a transverse fold line 16 at the center of the blank at the narrow points at Patented Aug. 4, 1959 each side of the orifice 13, and the bending of the blank about this fold line 16 forms an A-shaped unit which may upstand from a level base upon the serrated end edges 11 with the folded portions of the orifice forming a cradle at the upper edge wherein a ball B may be placed as clearly illustrated at Fig. 2.

The diameter of the orifice 13 is preferably such that a gold ball B may be inserted therein with suificient snugness to retain it in place, and an alternate mode of mounting a golf ball therein is to leave unbent that portion of the blank immediately surrounding the orifice and insert the ball snugly into the orifice and hold the tee in an upright position for which purpose one serrated end edge 11 is provided with two slots 17 which extend into the area 14 at approximate third points along the edge 11 and terminate at a transverse fold line 18 parallel to the end edge 11, the slots 17 thus defining three tab portions 14a, 14b and 140. These tab portions fold along line 18 out of the plane of the blank 10 to form feet upon which the blank may stand in an upright position as clearly illustrated at Fig. 3. In such upright position, the area 15 opposite the area 14 is above the ball and a substantial portion thereof is unnecessary, wherefore a suitable tear line 19 traverses this area a short space above the orifice .13 to permit a substantial portion of the area '15 to be removed from the blank, Fig. 3 illustrating the tee in upright position and after removal of said portion.

It is to be noted that a single blank 10 may include the fold line 16 and the slots 17, fold line 18 and tear line 19 to permit it to be used either in the form illustrated at Fig. 2 or the form illustrated at Fig. 3. However, the blank may preferably be formed with the fold line 16 only, for use as at Fig. 2; or without the fold line 16, but with the slots 17, fold line 18 and tear line 19 for use as at Fig. 3. In the latter instance, the portion of the area 15 which is torn away may be omitted entirely from the blank.

While I have herein described details of several constructions and arrangements of my invention, other details, constructions and arrangements, Within the spirit and scope of my invention, will occur to those skilled in the art, and hence, it is my desire that I be limited in my protection not by the constructions, and details herein described, and illustrated, but only by the proper scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A supporting tee for a golf ball or like sphere of selected diameter, comprising a substantially rectangular member of sheet material transversely folded into two flat, substantially-rectangular panels with the fold edge forming a lineal ridge along the top edge thereof and with the edges of each panel opposite to the fold edge forming base edges, and a semi-circular saddle of said selected diameter in the panels at the ridge.

2. For a supporting tee for a golf ball or like sphere of'selected diameter formed as a folded stand with a folded edge defining a lineal ridge along the top edge thereof and a semi-circular ball-receiving saddle in the ridge, a blank, including a sheet of substantially rigid, bendable material having a fold line dividing said sheet into panels for folding with the fold line forming said ridge, an orifice in the blank of said selected diameter and intersecting the fold line with the fold line projection across the orifice at a diametrical element thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,614,499 Stirton Jan. 18, 1927 1,766,938 Phillips June 24, 1930 2,072,688 Rose Mar. 2, 1937 2,809,839 Overbaugh Oct. 15, 1957 

